While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

I was at Alberta Downs helping out in the Bookkeepers office handing out purse checks when I came across a check for $500 to the Stollery Children’s Hospital. It obviously caught my eye as this is not a normal check request for Alberta Downs. I looked at whose account it was requested from and to my admiration is was out of the account of Jaime and Steven Ward.
I knew right away it was a story I wanted everyone to hear about.
Jamie and Steven (I don’t like to be called Steve) are the children of trainer/driver Lance Ward.
Jaime is 11 and Steven is 8.
I was amazed that children this age would donate $500 out of their horses account to support such a remarkable cause. I asked Lance if it was okay that I interview them and do a story and he said absolutely. He was beaming with pride and rightly so.
Sometimes in the big picture of things in the day to day hustle and bustle we lose sight of the little things. The important issues and the things that matter the most. For me it took these two wonderful children 8 and 11 to give me a reality check.
Both attending Ardrossan School and currently in Grades 3 and 6, I sat down with them at the track on the weekend to ask some questions about how and why they decided to donate money to the hospital.
They own a couple of race horses Passing Breeze and Mr Mozzart and the money they make from those horses goes into an RESP for further education, of which Steven would like to be a policeman or a teacher and Jaime a hairdresser or a horsewoman ( but both as a hobby).
Jaime told me she had a couple of classmates that had spent some time at the Stollery for diabetes and cancer and she just really wanted to do something to help out. She was so pleased to tell me her friend with cancer had been clean since March.
Steven for the past two years has grown his hair out, dyed it pink and then shaves it for Cancer. Last year he raised over $2600 for his generous efforts. Second highest in his whole school - he was so close to being number one and I  know by his determination that this year he will be the tops. He did it because it was the right thing to do and he was very proud of his contribution.

Lance informed me it was all their ideas and it was something they decided and wanted to do.

I knew this before Lance even told me. If you ever had the pleasure of talking to Jaime or Steven you would know without a doubt that it truly was their idea.